[in] which he wrought in the Christ [in] raising him from among [the] dead, and he set him down at his right hand in the heavenlies,
Paul prays that believers would know how great God's power is toward them. To show it, he points not to the stars but to a tomb and a throne. The verse answers two questions: how great is that power, and where is the risen Man now seated?
Paul could have measured God's strength by the making of the world. He chose a different scene.
In Ephesians we have what the power of God is. The Apostle prays that we may know it. To see a sample, we look not at creation but at the grave of Christ. At creation the Word of God made everything out of nothing, and no enemy appeared. But at the grave of Christ, death, the great enemy, had swept the scene. Even Christ, in grace, gave way to it and died for sins. The power of God raised that blessed Man from the dead and put Him in the highest place at God's right hand. So God displayed a power that no enemy could withstand.
People often gauge God's power toward them by their own faith or feelings. This verse sets the standard somewhere else.
The exceeding greatness of God's power toward us who believe has its measure in the working of His own mighty power. He put that power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. The measure of the might is divine. If we try to gauge this work by our faith, or feeling, or intelligence, we never lay hold of it. The measure is outside ourselves.
God did more than bring Him back to life. He gave the risen Man a place above every other power and name.
God raised Him from the dead. He set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, according to His merits and the dignity of His Person. There He is far above every rule, authority, might and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. So God has raised Man, in the Person of Christ, above everything except the throne that raised Him. And is He alone? No. The same power raised Christ and set Him at the right hand of God. That surpassing greatness of power, which raised the Man who was dead to the right hand of God, works with the same might in everyone who believes.
The phrase runs through this letter. It also sets Ephesians apart from Romans and Colossians.
The 'heavenlies' mark out this letter: compare Eph. 1:3, 20; Eph. 2:6; Eph. 3:10; Eph. 6:12. Romans takes up man as alive in his sins, and grace meets his need. Ephesians shows God's life-giving power for those dead in sins, seen in His raising Christ up from among the dead. Colossians views believers as risen with Christ, but still on earth with their hope in heaven. Ephesians seats believers in Christ in the heavenly places.
So where did God put this power to work? Not first inside the believer.
All of us alike, Jews and Gentiles, were dead in trespasses and sins... What takes place? God gives them life. Is it by a work inside their souls? No, but in a completely different way — "together with Christ."... What is in view here is not a work done in certain people at particular times. It is the work of God, according to the might of His strength. Where and when? "In Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." The power is "toward" us, but the operation itself took place in Christ.
So what does that seat mean for the believer now?
Christ has received a higher dignity, and He holds that place in present association with us while we are here. It is One who not only owns us and is kind to us, and uses the greatness of His glory for our good, but far more. The head of a vast empire can turn his throne to the good of his subjects and to the honour of those he wants to honour. But there is no real, direct, personal association with him. This is what the Christian has with Christ. Nothing less than to be one with Christ is what we have here.
- The sample — God shows His power not at creation, where nothing opposed Him, but at a grave, where the great enemy had done its worst.
- The measure — the standard of this power lies outside us. Our faith and feelings cannot gauge it.
- The Man — God set the risen Man above every rank and title, higher than all except the throne that raised Him.
- The place — "the heavenly places" runs through this letter. It is where Christ sits, and where believers sit in Him.
- The reach — the act happened in Christ, the power flows toward us, and the end is not distant kindness but being one with Him.
above every principality, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in that to come;
God's power did not stop at raising Jesus from the dead. It carried Him past every rank of authority in the universe and seated Him at God's right hand. Two questions follow: who are the powers He now towers over, and what does His place there mean for us?
Verse 21 stacks title on title. One writer weighs whether "far above" claims more than the Greek does:
The meaning is clear. Whatever the rank or dignity of any of the heavenly orders or beings, God has set Christ as the glorified Man above them all. Among the vast number of heavenly beings He is absolutely supreme. The rendering "far above" may not be exactly justified by the word used. But we cannot doubt that our translators seized its spirit. They sought to express that there was no second to the glorified Christ, and that His exaltation is so far beyond words that all the highest ranks of angelic beings are far beneath His feet.
Rule, authority, power and dominion are not human offices. They name ranks in the unseen world, and the sweep takes in all of them:
Chapter 6:12 shows that principalities and powers (or authorities) belong to the spiritual realm — angelic beings, evil in nature in that case. But chapter 1:21 includes all spirit beings, good or evil.
Heaven is not man's native place. That is what makes this seat so startling:
Nothing declares the majesty of God's power and the sovereign supremacy of His will to the whole intelligent creation so strongly as this: the Man Christ Jesus lifted to the throne of heaven. For the natural place of man is earth. The first man was not heavenly. He was of the earth, made of dust... He stood on a level essentially different from, as well as lower than, the heavenly beings. Angels are greater in power and might than man. But Jesus is now made higher than the heavens. God gives Him not only supremacy of place, but supremacy of name as well. The name of Jesus is now named in heaven as well as in the church below, with the worship due to God alone.
Why is the language so strong? One writer points to what had to be beaten first:
Scripture uses no such strong expressions when it is a question of raising the millions who will share the bliss of the first resurrection. The reason, no doubt, is that raising them is a simple matter. It is not complicated by all those tremendous questions of sin, death and Satan's power that were at work in the case of Jesus. Then the real battle was fought. Then every opposing power, whether human or satanic, rose to its highest expression and combined in one last effort to hold the Saviour in the dominion of death. Then the might of God's power rose up. It flung back every assault, confounded the full power of the enemy, and raised Him from the dead, and up until, seated at His own right hand, He is above — and not only above, but "far above all principality and power."
What does "not only in this age but also in the one to come" cover?
The distinction this verse draws between the present age and the age to come is very marked. It is not a comparison of time with eternity, but of one limited period with another. The subject here is the appointed supremacy of Christ, and this relates in a special sense to the present age and the age that follows it at once. This description of Christ's position at the right hand of the Father presses one truth on our minds. God has given Him a name and place of such universal pre-eminence that every claim to independent power or action takes on the definite character of rebellious enmity against God. Whether He is confessed or denied, He is "the Head of all principality and power."
The passage does not stop with Christ's own glory:
In that place of conferred glory, the church is associated with Him. He is not only "head over all things" but "head over all things to the church." The very same power that worked in Christ to set Him on high works in us to set us along with Him there.
- Power — the strength that broke death's hold also carried Him past every rank above.
- Place — "far above" leaves no second; the highest created beings are beneath His feet, not beside Him.
- Person — a Man sits there, with a place earth's first man never had and a name honoured in heaven itself.
- Period — His supremacy covers this age and the age to come. So every claim to independent power now is open rebellion.
- Partners — He is head over all things to the church, and the power that seated Him is at work to set His people with Him there.